Method, apparatus and program for providing user-selected alerting signals in telecommunications devices

ABSTRACT

A method for operating a user communication device ( 18   a,    18   b,    19   a,    19   b ), and a program and user communication device that operate in accordance with that method. An interface ( 2   d,    2   b,    23, 22 ) of the communication device ( 18   a,    18   b,    19   a,    19   b ) is operated to enter identifiers identifying respective calling sources ( 18   a,    18   b,    19   a,    19   b ) from which call signals may be received. The interface also is operated for entering into the device ( 18   a,    18   b,    19   a,    19   b ) electrical signals representing corresponding audible signals that are to be individually generated in response to calls being received from the respective calling sources ( 18   a,    18   b,    19   a,    19   b ). The identifiers are stored in a memory ( 2   c,    24 ) in association with respective ones of the electrical signals. Accordingly, when a call signal is later received from one of the calling sources, an identifier included in the signal is correlated to a corresponding stored identifier and to a corresponding stored electrical signal, and the audible signal represented by that electrical signal is then generated to indicate the receipt of the call from the calling source.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

This invention relates generally to user communication devices, and inparticular to a method, apparatus, and program for providinguser-selected alerting signals in telephones and other usercommunication devices.

2. Related Art

Conventional telephones typically generate some type of alerting signal,such as a ringing tone, in response to receiving an incoming callsignal, to alert the user of the receipt of a call. Typically, atelephone is capable of generating only one type of ringing signal, andgenerates that signal whenever a call from any source device isreceived. With such conventional telephones, therefore, the user has noidea who the calling party is until he or she picks up the handset andthe calling party identifies itself.

In the past several years, caller identification systems have beendeveloped, to inform users of the identity of a calling party before aconversation begins. Such caller identification systems process theincoming call signal to determine the calling telephone number and/orthe actual identity (such as the name) of the calling party, and presentthat information to the user on a visual display, such as a liquidcrystal display. When the phone rings to indicate the receipt of thecall, the user typically walks to the phone, looks at the display andmakes a determination as to whether her or she wants to pick up thehandset and have a conversation with the caller.

A primary drawback of such caller identification devices, however, stemsfrom the use of a visual display to convey information. Morespecifically, because those systems present the identificationinformation in a completely visual, rather than audible, format, theyrequire the user to be at the telephone or at least in close enough of aproximity to view the display, in order to know who is calling. Thus, acalled party who is, for example, watching television in the livingroom, and whose telephone is in the kitchen, would need to get up, walkto the telephone, and look at the display, perhaps only to determinethat he or she does not want to take that call in the first place. Suchoccurrences can be frustrating and annoying to the user.

At least some telephones and Private Branch Exchanges (PBX) equipmenthave the capability to enable very crude audible caller identification.For example, some private network telephones (such as telephones used inan office environment) generate one type of ringing sequence (such as asingle ring) in response to calls received from equipment located in thenetwork, and another type of ringing sequence (such as two very closetemporally-spaced rings) in response to calls being received fromequipment located outside of the network. By recognizing the ringingsequence, the called party can discern if the call is an “inside” or“outside” call. In some cases, office telephones are configured to bothring in different sequences for inside and outside calls, and tovisually display the name and/or number of the calling party. The calleraudible identification enabled by such systems, however, is extremelyrudimentary, in that it distinguishes only between inside and outsidecalls, and does not give any further indication as to the identity ofthe calling party.

There therefore exists a need for a new caller identification techniquethat takes an entirely fresh approach, and uses audible signals toidentify calling parties which a much greater level of specificity thanthe prior, out-dated systems discussed above.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

It is an object of this invention to provide a method, apparatus, andprogram for enabling a calling source to be identified at a receivingdevice, by generating a particular type of audible alerting signal atthe receiving device, in response to receiving an incoming call signalfrom the calling source.

It is another object of this invention to provide a method, apparatus,and program for enabling a party to select a type of alerting signal tobe generated at a receiving device in response to the receiving devicereceiving an incoming call signal from a particular calling source.

It is a further object of this invention to provide a method, apparatus,and program for enabling a user-selected alerting signal to be generatedat a receiving device when a call signal from a particular callingsource is received by that receiving device.

Further objects and advantages of this invention will become apparentfrom a consideration of the drawings and ensuing description.

The foregoing and other problems are overcome and the objects of theinvention are realized by a method for operating a user communicationsystem, and a program and communication system that operate inaccordance with that method.

In accordance with one embodiment of the invention, the communicationsystem comprises a plurality of user communication devices, and themethod comprises a step of providing a digital representation of acorresponding audible signal in each of a plurality of memory locationsof a memory of a first one of user communication devices. A next stepincludes forwarding a call signal from a second one of the usercommunication devices towards the first user communication device. Afterthe call signal is eventually received at the first user communicationdevice, further steps are performed of selecting one of the memorylocations, and generating the audible signal represented by the digitalrepresentation stored in the selected memory location.

Each digital representation may be provided in the memory of the firstuser communication device using various techniques. For example, anaudible signal may be applied to an input of a microphone of the device,for causing the microphone to generate a corresponding analog signal,which is then converted to digital form by an A/D converter and storedin the memory. Also by example, a digital representation of an audiblesignal may be downloaded to the first user communication device from adatabase included in a network which is in communication with thedevice, or may be downloaded directly to the device from an externalaudio source coupled to the device.

The selection of the memory locations preferably is performed based onsome predetermined criteria, such as a time/date at which the call isreceived, information pre-programmed into the device, a telephone numberincluded in the received call signal, etc.

In accordance with another embodiment of this invention, a methodcomprises steps of providing a digital representation of an audiblesignal in a memory of a first user communication device, and forwardinga call signal that includes the digital representation towards a seconduser communication device. Thereafter, when the call signal iseventually received at the second user communication device, furtherstep is performed of generating the audible signal represented by thedigital representation included in the received call signal.

In accordance with another embodiment of this invention, information(e.g., a telephone number) identifying the calling source is extractedfrom the received call signal in the second user communication device,and is then compared with pre-stored information to determine it thereceiving device is authorized to generate the audible signalrepresented by the received digital representation. This procedureprevents the device from generating, for example, sounds which the usermay not wish to hear, such as, for example, commercial advertisements.

Any suitable types of user communication device may be used in thisinvention, such as, for example, a telephone, a radiotelephone, aninformation appliance, or a pager.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The present invention will be more readily understood from a detaileddescription of the preferred embodiments taken in conjunction with thefollowing figures:

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a communication system that is suitable forpracticing this invention.

FIG. 2 a is a block diagram of a user communication terminal of thesystem of FIG. 1, wherein the terminal is constructed and operated inaccordance with this invention.

FIGS. 2 b and 2 c show data tables T1 and T2, respectively, that form aportion of a memory of one or more user communication devices of thesystem of FIG. 1.

FIG. 2 d is a block diagram of a user information appliance of thesystem of FIG. 1, wherein the appliance is constructed and operated inaccordance with this invention.

FIGS. 3 a and 3 b are a logical flow diagram of a method for enabling auser to select a type of alerting signal which he desires to be employedat a receiving communication device when an incoming call signal isreceived at the device, in accordance with this invention.

FIG. 3 c is a logical flow diagram of a procedure executed during theperformance of the method of FIGS. 3 a and 3 b, according to anotherembodiment of this invention.

FIGS. 4 a and 4 b are a logical flow diagram of another method inaccordance with this invention, wherein the portion of the method shownin FIG. 4 b enables an alerting signal selected by a user during theperformance of the method of FIG. 3 a, 3 b, or 4 a, to be generated at areceiving communication device when an incoming call signal is receivedat that device.

FIG. 5 shows a logical flow diagram of a method for normalizing acousticinformation entered into a user communication device of the system ofFIG. 1, during the performance of the methods of FIGS. 3 a, 3 b, 4 a,and 4 b.

Identically labeled elements appearing in different ones of the figuresrefer to the same elements but may not be referenced in the descriptionfor all figures.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a communication system 1 that is suitablefor practicing this invention. In the illustrated embodiment, thecommunication system 1 comprises a plurality of user communicationterminals 18 a, 18 b and user information appliances 19 a, 19 b,hereinafter referred to collectively as “user communication devices”,and a plurality of communication networks 32, 34 which arebidirectionally coupled to another communication network entity, such asthe Internet 17. Traditionally, various types of interconnectingequipment may be employed for connecting the networks 32, 34 and userinformation appliances 19 a, 19 b (via respective interfaces 3 a and 3b) to the Internet 17, such as, for example, gateways, optical fibers,wires, cables, switches, routers, modems (in the case of userinformation appliances 19 a, 19 b), and other types of communicationequipment, as can be readily appreciated by one skilled in the art,although, for convenience, no such equipment is shown in FIG. 1. Thenetworks 32, 34 are typically provided and maintained by an enterprise,such as a service provider SP1, SP2.

In the illustrated embodiment, the user communication terminal 18 a is aradiotelephone that includes an antenna 18 a′ for transmitting signalsto and receiving signals from a base site or base station 30 of thenetwork 32, via an interface 19. Preferably, the interface 19 is awireless interface, and the user communication terminal 18 a is capableof operating in accordance with any suitable wireless communicationprotocol, such as IS-136, GSM, IS-95 (CDMA), wideband CDMA, narrow-bandAMPS (NAMPS), and TACS. Dual or higher mode phones (e.g., digital/analogor TDMA/CDMA/analog phones) may also benefit from the teaching of thisinvention, and so called “Voice-Over-IP” technology, such as H.323 andSIP protocols, may also benefit as well. It should thus be clear thatthe user communication terminal 18 a can be capable of operating withone or more air interface standards, communication protocols, modulationtypes, and access types, and that the teaching of this invention is notlimited for use with any particular one of those standards/protocols,etc.

The network 32 preferably is a cellular network that includes the basestation 30, a main switching office (MSO) 31 bidirectionally coupledbetween the base station 30 and the Internet 17, a database 33, and aserver 33′. The MSO 31 controls the exchange of information between theuser communication terminal 18 a, the Internet 17, and othercommunication devices which may be connected to the MSO 31, such asPublic Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) telephones (not shown). Thisinformation may include, for example, voice and data messages. Thedatabase 33 is bidirectionally coupled to the Internet 17 through theserver 33′, and is employed for storing various types of information,including information representing user-selected call alerting signals,as will be further described below.

The server 33′ is a computer or farm of computers that facilitate thetransmission, storage, and reception of information between differentpoints, such as between the database 33 and the Internet 17. From ahardware standpoint, a server 33′ typically includes one or morecomponents, such as one or more microprocessors (not shown), forperforming the arithmetic and/or logical operations required for programexecution, and disk storage media, such as one or more disk drives (notshown) for program and data storage, and a random access memory, fortemporary data and program instruction storage. From a softwarestandpoint, a server 33′ typically includes server software resident onthe disk storage media, which, when executed, directs the server 33′ inperforming data transmission and reception functions. The serversoftware runs on an operating system stored on the disk storage media,such as UNIX or Windows NT, and the operating system preferably adheresto TCP/IP protocols. Also, in a preferred embodiment, the server 33′ isa Web or HTTP server, and the server software enables the server 33′ toexchange information with client software (typically a browser) usingthe Hypertext Transfer Protocol. As is well known in the art, servercomputers are offered by a variety of hardware vendors, can rundifferent operating systems, and can contain different types of serversoftware, each type devoted to a different function, such as handlingand managing data from a particular source, or transforming data fromone format into another format. It should thus be clear that theteaching of this invention is not to be construed as being limited foruse with any particular type of server computer, and that any othersuitable type of device for facilitating the exchange and storage ofinformation may be employed instead.

The network 34 will now be described. The network 34 preferablycomprises a server 7′, a database 7 which is bidirectionally coupled tothe Internet 17 through the server 7′, and a central office switchingstation (COSS) 8 which is bidirectionally coupled to both the Internet17 and the user communication terminal 18 b. An interface 9 couples theuser communication terminal 18 b to the COSS 8, and may include, forexample, a telephone line (e.g., landline trunk) of a PSTN (not shown),one or more coaxial cable lines, a wireless interface, and/or modems(e.g., ADSL modems) and the like, depending on applicable performancecriteria. The COSS 8 controls the exchange of information (voice anddata messages) between the user communication terminal 18 b, theInternet 17, and other communication devices which may be connected tothe COSS 8, such as PSTN telephones (not shown).

Like the database 33 of network 32, the database 7 of network 34 storesinformation such as information representing user-selected call alertingsignals, as will be described in greater detail below. The server 7′preferably is similar to the server 33′ described above, and facilitatesthe transmission, storage, and reception of such information and otherdata, between points such as the database 7 and Internet 17.

The information stored in the databases 7, 33 will now be described ingreater detail. In accordance with an aspect of this invention, each ofthe databases 7, 33 includes a plurality of sets of data tables, each ofwhich sets corresponds to a particular user communication terminal 18 a,18 b or information appliance 19 a, 19 b. An example of a set of datatables T1, T2 stored in an individual database 7, 33 is shown in FIGS. 2b and 2 c, respectively. Data table T1 (i.e., a look-up table)preferably has a plurality of columns X and Y (FIG. 2 b), each of whichincludes a respective plurality of memory locations or cells X1-Xn,Y1-Yn, for storing particular types of information. In a preferredembodiment each memory location X1-Xn of column X is employed forstoring acoustic information, such as a sampled and digitized version ofone or more audible signals. For example, memory location X1 may beemployed for storing acoustic information which a party P1, P2 desiresto be transmitted in a call signal to be sent from a device 18 a, 18 b,19 a, 19 b to another, recipient device, for subsequent use in thatrecipient device for generating a corresponding audible signalindicating the receipt of the call signal. Also by example, memorylocations X2-Xn each may be employed for storing acoustic informationrepresenting a digitized and sampled version of one or more audiblesignals which a party P1, P2 desires to be generated in his receivingdevice 18 a, 18 b, 19 a, 19 b when an incoming call signal is receivedfrom a particular calling source. It should be noted that the terms“audible signal” and “alerting signal” are hereinafter usedinterchangeably in this description, and the terms “acousticinformation” and “audio sample(s)” also are used interchangeably in thisdescription.

The memory locations Y1-Yn of column Y are associated with respectiveones of the memory locations X1-Xn of column X, and each includeinformation (also referred to as “communication device identifierinformation”) which relates to a particular user communication device 18a, 18 b, 19 a, 19 b and corresponds to the information included in thecorresponding memory location X1-Xn. For example, the informationincluded in each memory location Y1-Yn may specify one or more accesscodes of one or more user communication devices 18 a, 18 b, 19 a, 19 b,such as, for example, a device's telephone number, pager number, IPaddress, DNS domain name, and/or a public key certificate, etc.,depending on the types of devices employed and applicable operatingcriteria.

Data table T2 (FIG. 2 c) includes a plurality of memory locations Z1-Znthat are employed for storing information relating to particularcommunication devices 18 a, 18 b, 19 a, 19 b for which a receivingdevice will generate a call alerting signal based on acousticinformation received from those devices. The manner in which informationis stored in the data tables T1, T2 of databases 7, 33, and the mannerin which that information is subsequently used in accordance with thisinvention for indicating the receipt of incoming calls in the devices 18a, 18 b, 19 a, 19 h, will be described below in greater detail.

The Internet 17 will now be described. As used herein, the term“Internet” refers to an infrastructure having protocols and operatingrules which effectively permit the creation of a world-wide “network ofnetworks”. By connecting a communication device, such as the devices 18a, 18 b, 19 a, 19 b, to the Internet 17, information may be exchangedbetween those devices and any other source/destination device which alsois connected to the Internet 17. Thus, a matrix of interconnectedcommunication devices is provided for enabling information to beexchanged between those devices. In general, devices within theInternet, and devices connected to the Internet, adhere to TCP/IPprotocols. Typically, gateways (not shown) and various other componentswhich may interconnect the Internet 17 to external components, operatein accordance with TCP/IP protocols to form IP packets based oninformation (including, e.g., digitized acoustic signals) received fromthe external components, before routing those packets towards aparticular destination, and also convert IP packets received fromInternet 17 components back to their original form of information,before forwarding that information towards a particular destination. Ingeneral, routers (not shown) or other suitable types ofswitching/routing components are used for routing IP packets throughoutthe Internet 17, based on IP address information included in theinformation.

Referring now to FIG. 2 a, a preferred embodiment of the individual usercommunication terminals 18 a, 18 b is shown, and is identified byreference numeral 10. The user communication terminal 10 includes aninterface 23 for communicatively coupling the terminal 10 to an externalcommunication interface, such as the interface 19 (FIG. 1), in the caseof user communication terminal 18 a, or the interface 9, in the case ofuser communication terminal 18 b. For example, the interface 23 of FIG.2 a may include a transceiver and an antenna (in the case of terminal 18a) for enabling the terminal 10 to exchange information with theexternal interface. That information may include signaling informationin accordance with the external interface standard employed by therespective network 32, 34 coupled to the terminal 10, user speech, anddata.

A user interface of the terminal 10 includes a conventional speaker 17b, a display 20, a user input device, typically a keypad 22, and atransducer device, such as a microphone 21 b, all of which are coupledto a controller 18 (CPU), although in other embodiments, other suitabletypes of user interfaces also may be employed. The keypad 22 includesthe conventional numeric (0-9) and related keys (#, *), and other keysthat are used for operating the user communication terminal 10, such asa SEND key (terminal 18 a), various menu scrolling and soft keys, etc. Adigital-to-analog (D/A) converter 17 a is interposed between an outputof the speaker 17 b and the controller 18. The D/A converter 17 aconverts digital information signals received from the controller 18into corresponding analog signals, and forwards those analog signals tothe speaker 17 b, for causing the speaker 17 b to output a correspondingaudible signal. An analog to digital (A/D) converter 21 a is interposedbetween an output of the microphone 21 b and an input of the controller18, and operates by repetitively sampling and then digitizing analogsignals received from the microphone 21 b, and by providing acousticinformation representing the resulting digital values to the controller18. In one embodiment of the invention, a clock or timer 18-a isincluded in the controller 18.

The user communication terminal 10 also includes various memories, suchas a RAM 24 a, a ROM 24 b, and a Flash memory 24 c, shown collectivelyas the memory 24. In accordance with one embodiment of this invention,the memory 24 also includes a data table T1 as shown in FIG. 2 adescribed above, and a data table T2 as shown in FIG. 2 b describedabove, wherein the individual tables T1, T2 preferably are included inthe Flash memory 24 c of the terminal 10. As will be described in moredetail below, and in accordance with an embodiment of this invention,the information included in the data tables T1, T2 of memory 24 issynchronized with information stored in corresponding data table T1, T2of a corresponding one of the databases 7 (in the case of terminal 18 b)and 33 (in the case of terminal 18 a).

An operating program for controlling the operation of controller 18 alsois stored in the memory 24 (typically in ROM 24 b) of the usercommunication terminal 10, and may include routines to present messagesand message-related functions to the user on the display 20, typicallyas various menu items. The operating program stored in memory 24 alsoincludes routines for implementing a method that enables the user toenter or otherwise manipulate information in the data tables T1, T2 ofthe databases 7, 33 and user communication terminals 18 a, 18 b, inaccordance with a memory programming mode of this invention, androutines for implementing a method that enables stored acousticinformation to be employed for generating audible alerting signalsindicating the receipt of incoming calls at receiving devices. Thosemethods will be described below in relation to FIGS. 3 a-3 c, 4 a, 4 b,and 5. In accordance with one embodiment of the invention, at least oneprogram stored in memory 24 adheres to TCP/IP protocols, forimplementing a known method for connecting the terminal 10 to theInternet 17. The memory 24 preferably also stores software (e.g., webbrowser software) for enabling a user to navigate or otherwise exchangeinformation with the World Wide Web, using interface 22.

Referring now to FIG. 2 d, an exemplary embodiment of the individualuser information appliances 19 a, 19 b is shown, and is identified byreference numeral 2. The user information appliance 2 preferablycomprises a controller (e.g., a microprocessor and/or logic array) 2 afor performing arithmetic and/or logical operations required for programexecution, an input user-interface 2 d coupled to the controller 2 a, anoutput user-interface 2 e coupled to the controller 2 a, and, accordingto one embodiment, a microphone 2 f coupled to an input of thecontroller 2 a through an A/D converter 2 g, and a speaker 2 i coupledto an output of the controller 2 a through a D/A converter 2 h. Aninterface 2 b couples the controller 2 a bidirectionally to an externalinterface, such as the interface 3 a, in the case of user informationappliance 19 a, or the interface 3 b, in the case of user informationappliance 19 b, and is used by the controller 2 a to communicatebidirectionally with that external interface.

The input user-interface 2 d may include any suitable type ofuser-operable input device(s), such as, for example, a keyboard, mouse,touch screen, or trackball, and the output user-interface 2 e mayinclude, for example, a video display, a liquid crystal or other flatpanel display, a printer, and/or any other suitable type of outputdevice for enabling a user to perceive outputted information. For thepurposes of this description, the output user-interface 2 e is assumedto be a display.

The user information appliance 2 of FIG. 2 d also includes at least onememory (e.g., disk drives, read-only memories, and/or random accessmemories) 2 c that is bidirectionally coupled to the controller 2 a. Thememory 2 c stores temporary data and instructions, and also storesvarious routines and operating programs (e.g., Microsoft Windows,UNIX/LINUX, or OS/2) that are used by the controller 2 a for controllingthe overall operation of the user information appliance 2. Preferably,at least one of those programs (e.g., Microsoft Winsock) stored inmemory 2 c adheres to TCP/IP protocols (i.e., includes a TCP/IP stack),for implementing a known method for connecting the appliance 2 to theInternet 17, through the respective external interface 3 a or 3 b of thesystem 1. The memory 2 c preferably also stores web browser software,such as, for example, Microsoft Internet Explorer (IE) and/or NetscapeNavigator, for enabling a user of the appliance 2 to navigate orotherwise exchange information with the World Wide Web (WWW), using userinterface 2 d. In accordance with one embodiment of the invention, thememory 2 c may also stores software, such as, for example, MicrosoftNetMeeting, that implements protocols (e.g., H.323, SIP, and/or RTP) forenabling the appliance 2 to send and receive phone calls through theInternet 17, while connected thereto. The memory 2 c also may store datatables T1, T2 having information as shown in FIGS. 2 b and 2 c,respectively, for use in accordance with this invention to indicate thereceipt of call signals sent to, or received by, the informationappliance 2. Routines for implementing methods according to thisinvention also are stored in the memory 2 c. Those methods will bedescribed below in relation to FIGS. 3 a-3 c, 4 a, 4 b, and 5.

Before describing the various methods of the invention, it should benoted that the total number and variety of user communication terminalsand user information appliances which may be included in the overallcommunication system 1 can vary widely, depending on user supportrequirements, geographic locations, applicable design/system operatingcriteria, etc., and are not limited to those depicted in FIG. 1. Also,this invention may be employed in conjunction with any suitable types ofcommunication protocols, including, but not limited to, for example,Internet telephony protocols, ATM telephony protocols, GSM cellulartelephony protocols, and ANSI ISUP. Moreover, although in FIG. 1 theuser communication terminals 18 a, 18 b are depicted as a radiotelephoneand a conventional, non-wireless telephone, respectively, and the userinformation appliances 19 a, 19 b are depicted as PCs, any othersuitable types of user communication terminals and/or informationappliances may be employed, in addition to, or in lieu of, thosecomponents. For example, in other embodiments, and where appropriate,one or more of the individual devices 18 a, 18 b, 19 a, 19 b may beembodied as a personal digital assistant, a handheld personal digitalassistant, a palmtop computer, a pager, and the like. It also should benoted that, although the invention is described in the context of thevarious devices 18 a, 18 b, 19 a, 19 b communicating with othercomponents through the Internet 17 and networks 32, 34, broadlyconstrued, the invention is not so limited. For example, one or more ofthe user communication devices 18 a, 18 b, 19 a, 19 b may communicatewith one another through other suitable interfaces, and/or may beincluded within a same network. In general, the teaching of thisinvention may be employed in conjunction with any suitable types ofcommunication devices that are capable of communicating with anothercommunication device, and which include a user interface for enabling auser to input information and perceive outputted information. It shouldthus be clear that the teaching of this invention is not to be construedas being limited for use with any particular type of user communicationterminal, user information appliance, or communication protocol.

It also should be noted that although the invention is described in thecontext of the servers 7′ and 33′ being included in the networks 34 and32, respectively, the invention is not necessarily limited to thatconfiguration. For example, in other embodiments those devices 7′ and33′ may be connected within other suitable locations of thecommunication system 1, such as within the Internet 17. In otherembodiments, no servers 7′, 33′ need be employed at all in cases whereother suitable components are employed for facilitating the transfer andstorage of information to and from the databases 7, 33.

Having described the various components of the communication system 1,an aspect of this invention will now be described, with reference to theflow diagram of FIGS. 3 a and 3 b. In accordance with this aspect of theinvention, a party P1, P2 can select one or more audible alertingsignals (e.g., sounds) which he desires to be used for indicating thereceipt of an incoming call at a particular communication device 18 a,18 b, 19 a, 19 b. Acoustic information representing a digital version ofthose audible signals preferably can be stored by the party P1, P2 inone or more desired devices 18 a, 19 a, 33, 18 b, 19 b, 7, along withcorresponding communication device identifier information, using varioustechniques of this invention.

In step 100 of FIG. 3 a, the method is started, and it is assumed thatthe user information appliance 19 a is “connected” to the Internet 17through the interface 3 a. For example, the user information appliance19 a may connect to the Internet 17 in response to party P1 causing apredetermined icon presented on display 2 e of the appliance 19 a to beselected, in which case one of the above-described programs stored inmemory 2 c of the appliance 19 a responds by communicating through theinterface 3 a to connect the appliance 19 a with the Internet 17, inaccordance with TCP/IP protocols.

In step 102, it is assumed that the party P1 desires to storeinformation in at least one of the data tables T1, T2 (from database 33)corresponding to user communication terminal 18 a, and thus operates theuser interface 2 d to cause a predetermined view (not shown) to bepresented on the display 2 e. Preferably, that predetermined view is aweb page retrieved from the database 33. For example, step 102 may beperformed by the party P1 operating the interface 2 d to causepredetermined software (e.g., web browser software) stored in the memory2 c to communicate through the interface 3 a and Internet 17 with theserver 33′, and to cause that server 33′ to retrieve the predeterminedweb page from the database 33, although in other embodiments, othersuitable techniques for accessing desired information from the database33 may also be employed. Also, in one embodiment the predetermined webpage may be dedicated specifically to the user communication terminal 18a by the service provider SP1, and may require the party P1 to enter apredetermined password (e.g., a telephone number of terminal 18 a),before granting that party P1 access to the data tables T1, T2 ofdatabase 33, using a known technique.

Preferably, the predetermined view presented to the party P1 in step 102prompts the party P1 to specify whether or not he desires to obtainaccess to one of the data tables T1, T2 (from database 33) correspondingto user communication terminal 18 a, for entering or otherwisemanipulating information stored in that table. For the purposes of thisdescription, it is assumed that the party P1 desires to storecommunication device identifier information in table T2 of database 33,to identify communication device(s) for which he authorizes the terminal18 a to generate audible alerting signals based on acoustic informationreceived from those devices. Accordingly, the party P1 responds to theprompt by entering information into user interface 2 d specifying thathe desires to obtain access to data table T2 (“Y” in step 104). As aresult, control then passes to step 106 where the data table T2 isaccessed from the database 33, and a view of the table T2 is presentedto the party P1 via the display 2 e of the user information appliance 19a. Thereafter, in step 108 it is assumed that the party P1 entersinformation, such as, e.g., a telephone number of user communicationterminal 18 b, through the user interface 2 d of user informationappliance 19 a (although, as previously described, other information mayalso be entered, such as an IP address, DNS domain name, a public keycertificate, etc., corresponding to a desired user communicationdevice). In response to the information being entered in step 108,software employed by the controller 2 a communicates the enteredinformation to the server 33′ which then stores the information in apredetermined memory location, such as memory location Z1, of table T2in the database 33 (step 110).

Thereafter, in step 112, a message is presented to the party P1 viadisplay 2 e, prompting the party P1 to specify whether or not he desiresto store or otherwise manipulate further information in the table T2 ofdatabase 33. If the party P1 responds by entering information into theuser interface 2 d specifying that he does not desire to do so (“N” instep 112), then control passes back to step 104 where the methodproceeds in the above-described manner. Otherwise, if the party P1specifies that he does desire to store or otherwise manipulate furtherinformation in the data table T2 (“Y” in step 112), then control passesback to step 106 where the method then continues in the above-describedmanner.

Referring again to step 104, it now is assumed that the party P1 desiresto store (in data table T1 of database 33) acoustic information which hedesires to be employed by the user communication terminal 18 a togenerate audible signal(s) for indicating the receipt of incoming callsfrom a particular source communication device, and thus entersinformation into the user interface 2 d specifying that he desiresaccess to the data table T1 (“N” in step 104). As a result, controlpasses to step 114 where a message is presented on the display 2 eprompting the party P1 to enter predetermined information (e.g., atelephone number) into the appliance 19 a for identifying the sourcecommunication device. Assuming that the party P1 then entersinformation, such as a telephone number of user communication terminal18 b, into the interface 2 d of the appliance 19 a (step 116), then theentered information is communicated to the database 33 and stored in apredetermined memory location, such as memory location X1 of data tableT1 (step 118).

Thereafter, control passes to step 120 where a message is presented onthe display 2 e prompting the party P1 to input one or more sounds whichhe desires to be used by user communication terminal 18 a to indicatethe receipt of incoming calls sent from the source device identified bythe information entered in step 116. Thereafter, it is assumed that theparty P1 then responds by entering a desired audible signal (sound wave)2 f′ (FIG. 2 d) into the information entered in step 116. Thereafter, itis assumed that the party P1 then responds by entering a desired audiblesignal (sound wave) 2 f′ (FIG. 2 d) into the information appliance 19 a(step 122). For example, the party P1 may enter the signal 2 f′ byspeaking into the microphone 2 f, or by causing acoustic waves generatedby an external source to be entered into the microphone 2 f. In eithercase the entered signal is repetitively sampled and converted to digitalform by the A/D converter 2 g, and resulting digital acousticinformation representing a digital version of the entered signal isprovided to the controller 2 a. As another example, the party P1 mayconnect an external audio source to an interface (e.g., a port) of theappliance 19 a, and then cause acoustic information to be downloadedfrom that source directly into the controller 2 a of the appliance 19 a.As a further example, instead of inputting an externally-derivedacoustic wave in the above-described manner, the party P1 may desire toemploy an acoustic sample already stored in the memory 2 c of theappliance 19 a. For example, that acoustic sample may have beendownloaded to the appliance's memory 2 c from a particular web siteaccessed by the party P1, while previously navigating the world-wide-web(in a known responds by retrieving that sample (acoustic information)from the memory 2 c.

In response to step 122 being performed, the controller 2 a of theinformation appliance 19 a communicates the acoustic informationobtained in step 120, to the server 33′, which in turn, causes theacoustic information to be stored in, for example, memory location Y1 inthe table T1 of database 33 (step 124).

Thereafter, control passes through connector (A1) to step 126 of FIG. 3b, where a message is presented on the display 2 e of informationappliance 19 a prompting the party P1 to specify whether or not hedesires to store further acoustic information in the data table T1 ofdatabase 33. If the party P1 then responds by entering information intothe information appliance 19 a specifying that he does desire to storefurther acoustic information in the data table T2 (“Y” in step 126),then control passes back to step 114 of FIG. 3 a, where the method thenproceeds in the above-described manner. If the party P1 specifiesotherwise (“N” in step 126), then, according to one embodiment of theinvention, control passes to step 128 where another message is presentedon the display 2 e, this time prompting the party P1 to specify whetheror not he desires to have the information from the data tables T1 and T2of database 33 copied to the corresponding data tables T1 and T2 of thememory 24 of user communication terminal 18 a (i.e., for synchronizedthe tables T1, T2 of those devices 33 and 18 a together). Assuming thatthe party P1 then enters information into the information appliance 19 ainstructing that the tables T1, T2 in the devices 18 a and 33 besynchronized, and also assuming that the communication terminal 18 a isconnected to the Internet 17 (by way of interface 19 and components 30and 31), then the controller 2 a of user information appliance 19 acommunicates in the above-described manner with the server 33′ to causethe information from the data tables T1, T2 of database 33 to be copied,downloaded to the user communication terminal 18 a (via intermediatecomponents 17, 31, 30, and 19), and stored in the corresponding datatables T1, T2 within the memory 24 of the user communication terminal 18a (step 130). For example, the copied information may be forwarded bythe components 33, 17, and 31 to the terminal 18 a, based on informationdefining the telephone number of that terminal 18 a, entered into theappliance 19 a by party P1 when instructing that the synchronizationprocess be performed in step 130. In the foregoing manner, theinformation included in the data tables T1, T2 of the memory 24 issynchronized with (i.e., replicated) that from the corresponding tablesT1, T2 from database 33. Thereafter, control passes to step 132 wherethe method is terminated.

It should be noted that in other embodiments of the invention, othersuitable techniques also may be employed for synchronizing thecommunication terminal memory 24 with the database 33, either in lieuof, or in addition to, that described above. For example, in accordancein another embodiment of this invention, the controller 2 a of userinformation appliance 19 a periodically (i.e., at predetermined timeintervals, determined by clock 2-a) communicates with the server 33′ inthe above-described manner to cause the information to be copied fromthe database 33 tables T1, T2 to the memory 24 of user communicationterminal 18 a, while the information appliance 19 a and terminal 18 aare both connected to the Internet 17.

In another embodiment of the invention, the controller 18 of the usercommunication terminal 18 a periodically (i.e., at predetermined timeintervals determined by clock 18-a) communicates with the server 33′(through the intermediate components 19, 30, 31, and 17) whileregistered with the network 32 and connected to the Internet 17, tocause the information to be copied from the database 33 tables T1, T2 tothe terminal memory 24 in the above-described manner.

In still another embodiment of the invention, the synchronizationprocess is performed in response to a party, such as party P1, enteringa command into the user communication terminal 18 a, specifying that thesynchronization process be performed. As an example of this embodiment,and referring to FIG. 3 c, it is assumed that, while the usercommunication terminal 18 a is both registered with the network 32 andconnected to the Internet 17 (step 136), the party P1 operates thekeypad 22 of the terminal 18 a to cause a predetermined menu to bepresented on the display 20 (step 140). Preferably, the predeterminedmenu prompts the party P1 to specify whether he wishes to initiate thesynchronization procedure. For example, that menu may include a messagereading “Would you like to download sound samples?”. Assuming that theparty P1 then responds by entering information into the keypad 22specifying “Yes” (step 142), then the controller 18 of terminal 18 aresponds by communicating, to the server 33′, information requesting adownload of the information from the tables T1, T2 of database 33, byway of the intermediate components 19, 30, 31, and 17 (step 144). Theserver 33′ then responds to receiving that request by causing theinformation to be copied from the data tables T1, T2 of database 33 tothe corresponding data tables T1, T2 within the terminal memory 24, inthe above-described manner (step 146).

As another example, the menu presented on the terminal display 20 instep 140 may include a message reading “Would you like to listen topre-set sound samples?” In this case, assuming that the party P1 thenresponds by entering information into the keypad 22 specifying “Yes” instep 142, then the controller 18 of terminal 18 a responds bycommunicating with the database 33 through the server 33′, in accordancewith, for example, web browser software stored in memory 24, to cause apredetermined view to be presented on the display 20 of terminal 18 a.Preferably, that predetermined view is a web page retrieved fromdatabase 33, presenting various filenames corresponding to pre-storedaudio samples in the database 33. That predetermined view preferablyalso presents the party P1 with an option (preferably as a list offilenames) to select (through interface 22) one or more audio sampleswhich he desires to listen to. Assuming that the party P1 selects aparticular displayed filename, then the corresponding sound sample isretrieved from database 33 (step 144) and downloaded to the terminal 18a (step 146), wherein it is converted to an analog signal by the D/Aconverter 17 a and then outputted in audible form by the speaker 17 b.The predetermined view presented in step 140 preferably also prompts theparty P1 to select one or more of the audio samples which he desires tobe downloaded and stored in the memory 24 of terminal 18 a. For example,the view may include a message such as “Please select desired soundsamples”. Assuming that in step 142 the party P1 interacts with thepresented view through the user interface 2 d to respond to that messageby selecting one or more filenames corresponding to audio samples whichhe desires to be downloaded, then in step 144 the controller 18communicates with the database 33 through server 33′, in theabove-described manner, to cause the corresponding audio sample(s) to beretrieved from the table T1 of database 33 and downloaded to theterminal 18 a (step 146), wherein those sample are then stored inpredetermined memory locations X1-Xn of table T1 within memory 24.

For either of the foregoing examples, and in cases in which the party P1operates the terminal 18 a in step 142 to initiate the synchronizationprocedure while the user communication terminal 18 a is not connected tothe Internet 17, as recognized by the controller 18 based onpredetermined information (e.g., either Internet-level information, suchas PPP status information or the presence or absence of IP addressinformation, or lower level status information, such as modem statusinformation) then the controller 18 responds by operating in accordancewith a program stored in memory 24 to connect the terminal 18 b to theInternet 17 (through components 19, 30, and 31), in accordance with, forexample, TCP/IP protocols. Thereafter, in response to recognizing thatthe user communication terminal 18 a is connected to the Internet 17,the controller 18 communicates with the server 33′ in step 144 asdescribed above to cause the information from data tables T1, T2 indatabase 33 to be automatically copied to the corresponding data tablesT1, T2 in the terminal memory 24 in step 146.

In accordance with another embodiment of this invention, acousticinformation and communication device identifier information may beprovided in the data tables T1, T2 of the individual databases 7, 33 bythe corresponding service providers SP1, SP2, and the service providerSP1, SP2 may or may not permit the communication devices 18 a, 18 b, 19a, 19 b to have access to that information. For example, the serviceprovider SP1 (perhaps at the request of party P1) may pre-assignpredetermined audio samples to predetermined user communication devices18 a, 18 b, 19 a, 19 b, and then store those audio samples in respectiveones of the memory locations X1-Xn of table T1 in database 33, alongwith communication device identifier information identifying thosedevices in corresponding memory locations Y1-Yn of table T1. The serviceprovider SP1 also may provide the information within data table T2 ofthe database 33. In addition, the service provider SP1 may elect toperiodically change the information (e.g., the audio samples) includedin any of the memory locations of one or both of the data tables T1, T2in database 33. For either case, any of the above-described techniquesfor synchronizing the data tables T1, T2 of memory 24 of communicationterminal 12 a with those of the database 33 may be employed, after theinformation is provided in the database 33 by the service provider SP1,SP2.

It should be noted that any party, such the user of terminal 18 a, orother users (e.g., such as acquaintances of the user of terminal 18 a),may initiate the above-described techniques for causing acousticinformation to be stored in the terminal 18 a, depending on applicableperformance criteria, and those storage procedures may be initiated fromany one of the devices 18 a, 19 a, 19 b, or 18 b. In cases where a userof a device 19 a, 18 b, or 19 b initiates one of those procedures (forcausing the acoustic information to be stored in terminal 18 a), anysuitable type of authorization procedures also may be employed (e.g.,such as requiring the party to specify a password for the terminal 18 aand/or database 33) before permitting a party to access to the device 18a and/or 33.

It also should be noted that while the invention has been describedabove in the context of the acoustic information and communicationdevice identifier information being downloaded to the communicationterminal 18 a from the network 32, other suitable techniques also may beemployed for storing the information in the user communication terminal18 a. For example, where appropriate, sound waves representing desiredsounds may be applied to the microphone 21 b of the terminal 18 a, inwhich case analog signals outputted by the microphone 21 b are sampledand converted to digital form by the A/D converter 21 a, and then storedin the memory 24 as acoustic information by the controller 18. Asanother example, acoustic information may be downloaded from an externalsource coupled to an interface (e.g., a port) of the terminal 18 a, inwhich case the controller 18 responds by storing that information in thememory 24 of terminal 18 a. These entry procedures, as well asprocedures for entering corresponding communication device identifierinformation, may be performed by the party P1 while, for example,scrolling through and interacting with various menus and promptspresented on display 20, wherein those prompts are preferably similar tothose described above with respect to steps 102, 112, 114, and 120. Alsoby example, the acoustic information sample may be downloaded to theterminal 18 a from a particular web site, in a similar manner asdescribed above. The steps which are performed by the terminal 18 a forstoring entered information preferably are similar to those describedabove with regard to the information appliance 19 a, as modified for theterminal 18 a in a manner as would be readily appreciated by one skilledin the art in view of this description.

Having described the various techniques of the invention for storingacoustic and communication device identifier information in thedatabases 7, 33 and user communication devices 18 a, 18 b, 19 a, 19 b,another aspect of this invention will now be described. In accordancewith this aspect of the invention, stored acoustic information isemployed for generating audible signals indicating the receipt ofincoming calls signal at recipient communication devices 18 a, 18 b, 19a, 19 b. A method in accordance with this aspect of the invention willnow be described, with reference to FIGS. 4 a and 4 b.

In step 200 of FIG. 4 a the method is started, and it is assumed that aparty, such as party P2, operates one of the user communication devices,such as terminal 18 b, to cause the terminal 18 b to enter a telephonecall origination mode in which a predetermined menu is presented on thedisplay 20 (step 202). The predetermined menu preferably prompts theparty P2 to specify whether or not he desires to place a telephone callto another, recipient communication device, and if so, whether or not hedesires that the recipient device indicate the receipt of the callsignal by sounding an audible alerting signal selected by the party P2.By example, the user communication terminal 18 b may prompt the party P2in step 202 by presenting a message on the display 20 reading “send callwith customized ringing?”.

Assuming that party P2 then operates the keypad 22 of terminal 18 b toenter information into the controller 18 specifying that the call beplaced without implementing customized ringing (“N” in step 204), thencontrol passes to step 206 where the terminal 18 b presents a message onthe display 20 of that terminal 18 b prompting the party P2 to specifyan access code (e.g., a telephone number) of a communication device towhich he desires to place a call. Assuming that the party P2 thenoperates the keypad 22 to enter information into the terminal 18 bspecifying a telephone number of a desired recipient communicationdevice, such as user communication terminal 18 a, and also entersinformation into the terminal 18 b (e.g., by depressing a “SEND” key)specifying that a call be placed to that recipient communicationterminal 18 a (step 208), then the controller 18 responds by causing acall signal to be transmitted to the terminal 18 a, by way of thenetwork interface 23 of terminal 18 b and the components 9, 8, 17, 31,30, and 19 of the communication system 1 (step 210), in a conventionalmanner. Preferably, the call signal includes both the telephone numberinformation entered in previous step 208 and information (e.g.,telephone number) identifying the calling terminal 18 b. Thereafter,control passes through connector (A1′) to step 232 of FIG. 4 b, wherethe method then continues in a manner as will be described below.

Referring again to step 204, assuming that the party P2 operates thekeypad 22 to enter information into the controller 18 specifying thatthe customized ringing option be implemented (“Y” in step 204), thencontrol passes to step 212 where the terminal 18 b presents a message onthe display 20 of that terminal 18 b prompting the party P2 to specifywhether he desires to enter one or more desired sounds into the terminal18 b, for being included in digital form in a call signal to betransmitted to a desired recipient device, or whether he desires thatpre-stored acoustic information be included in that call signal.

If the party P2 then enters information (through the keypad 22)specifying that pre-stored acoustic information be included in the callsignal (“N” in step 214), then control passes to step 216 where theterminal 18 b presents a message on the display 20 prompting the partyP2 to specify the telephone number of a recipient communication deviceto which he desires to place a call. Assuming that the party P2 thenoperates the keypad 22 to enter information into the terminal 18 bspecifying the telephone number of user communication terminal 18 a, andalso enters information into the terminal 18 b (e.g., by depressing the“SEND” key) specifying that a call be placed to that terminal 18 a (step218), then, in accordance with one embodiment of the invention, thecontroller 18 responds by referring to a memory location Y1-Yn (in datatable T1 of the memory 24) that includes information (e.g., a telephonenumber) identifying the terminal 18 b, correlating that memory locationto a corresponding memory location X1-X1 in the table T1 of memory 24,and by retrieving the acoustic information stored in that memorylocation X1-Xn. The controller 18 then forms a call signal that includesthat retrieved acoustic information and the telephone numbers ofterminals 18 a and 18 b within predetermined information fields of thesignal, and by causing the formed call signal to be transmitted to theterminal 18 a, by way of the interface 23 (FIG. 2 a) and the components9, 8, 17, 31, 30, and 19 of the communication system 1 (step 220).

After the call signal is transmitted from the terminal 18 b in step 220,control passes through connector (A′) to step 232 of FIG. 4 b, where themethod continues in a manner as will be described below.

According to another embodiment of this invention, step 220 is performedin the following manner. In response to the party P2 specifying in step218 that a call be placed to the recipient terminal 18 a, the controller18 operates by 1) forming a call signal that includes the telephonenumbers of the respective terminals 18 a, 18 b and request informationrequesting the retrieval of acoustic information from the database 7,and 2) by causing the formed call signal to be forwarded towards theterminal 18 a by way of the system components 9, 8, and 17. Thereafter,the call signal is routed by the Internet 17 to the server 7′, based onthe request information included in the signal, and the server 7′ thenresponds to the received signal by 1) correlating the telephone numberof terminal 18 b from the call signal to corresponding information in amemory location Y1-Yn of data table T1 within database 7, 2) correlatingthat memory location Y1-Yn to a corresponding memory location X1-X1 inthe data table T1 of database 7, and 3) retrieving the acousticinformation stored in that location X1-Xn. The server 7′ then insertsthe retrieved acoustic information into another predetermined field ofthe call signal, and, based on the telephone number of terminal 18 aincluded in the signal, forwards the signal to the terminal 18 a by wayof the system components 17, 31, 30, and 19. Control then passes throughconnector (A1′) to step 232 of FIG. 4 b, where the method then continuesin a manner as will be described below.

In still another embodiment of this invention, step 220 may be performedby retrieving acoustic information from the database 33. For example, inthis embodiment, the controller 18 responds to the party P2 specifying(in step 218) that a call be placed to recipient terminal 18 a by 1)forming a call signal that includes the telephone numbers of therespective terminals 18 a, 18 b and request information requesting theretrieval of acoustic information from the database 33, and 2) causingthe formed call signal to be forwarded towards the terminal 18 a by wayof the system components 9, 8, and 17. Thereafter, the call signal isrouted by the Internet 17 to the MSO 31, which, based on the requestinformation included in the signal, communicates with the server 33′ tocause the server 33′ to 1) correlate the telephone number of terminal 18b from the call signal to corresponding information in a memory locationY1-Yn of data table T1 of database 33, 2) correlate that memory locationto a corresponding memory location X1-X1 in table T1 of database 33, 3)retrieve the acoustic information from that location X1-Xn, and 4)provide the retrieved information back to the MSO 31. The MSO 31 theninserts the retrieved acoustic information into another predeterminedfield of the call signal, and, based on the telephone number of terminal18 a included in the signal, forwards the signal to the terminal 18 a byway of the system components 17, 31, 30, and 19. Control then passesthrough connector (A1′) to step 232 of FIG. 4 b, where the method thencontinues in a manner as will be described below.

Referring again to step 214, a case in which the party P2 wishes toenter one or more desired sounds into the terminal 18 b before placing acall will now be described. If, in response to the prompt in step 212,the party P2 enters information into the controller 18 (through keypad22) specifying that he wishes to enter one or more desired sounds intothe terminal 18 b, for being included in digital form in a call signalto be transmitted to recipient terminal 18 a (“Y” in step 214), thencontrol passes to step 222 where the terminal 18 b presents anothermessage on the display 20 prompting the party P2 to enter the sound(s)into the terminal 18 b. Thereafter, the party P2 may enter the desiredsounds or digital acoustic information into the terminal 18 b, using anyof the techniques described above. For the purposes of this descriptiononly, it is assumed that the party P2 responds to the message byapplying an audible signal 21 b′ to the microphone 21 b of terminal lab.In this case the microphone 21 b then outputs a corresponding analogsignal, which is then converted to digital acoustic information by theA/D converter 21 a. That acoustic information then is provided to thecontroller 18, which, in turn, stores the acoustic information in apredetermined memory location, such as location X1, within the table T1of memory 24 (step 224).

After the step 224 is performed, control passes to block 226 where theterminal 18 b presents another message on the display 20 prompting theparty P2 to specify a telephone number of a communication device towhich he desires to place a call. Assuming that the party then operatesthe keypad 22 to enter information into the terminal 18 b specifying thetelephone number of terminal 18 a, and also enters information into theterminal 18 b (e.g., by depressing the “SEND” key) specifying that acall be placed to that terminal 18 b (step 228), then the controller 18responds by retrieving the acoustic information stored earlier in thememory 24 in previous step 224, forming a call signal that includes thatacoustic information within a predetermined information field of thesignal, and by causing the formed call signal to be transmitted to theterminal 18 a, by way of the components 9, 8, 17, 31, 30, and 19 of thecommunication system 1 (step 230). After the call signal is transmittedfrom the terminal 18 b in step 230, control passes to through connector(A1′) to step 232 of FIG. 4 b, where the method then continuestherefrom.

Referring now to FIG. 4 b, the step 232 will now be described. In step232, it is assumed that the user communication terminal 18 a receivesthe call signal originally transmitted by the terminal 18 b during theperformance of either one of earlier steps 210, 220, or 230. Within theterminal 18 a, the received call signal is

Within the terminal 18 a, the received call signal is provided from theinterface 23 to the controller 18. In accordance with one embodiment ofthe invention, the controller 18 then responds to receiving the callsignal by examining the contents of the received signal to determinewhether or not a predetermined information field of the signal includesacoustic information therein (i.e., acoustic information originally sentin one of earlier steps 220 or 230) (step 234). If the controller 18determines that the predetermined information field of the received callsignal does not include acoustic information (“N” in step 236), thencontrol passes to step 238 where, in accordance with one embodiment ofthe invention, the controller 18 extracts information identifying thecalling terminal 18 b (e.g., terminal 18 b's telephone number) from thereceived signal, and compares that extracted information to informationstored in the memory locations Y1-Yn of table T1 in the memory 24 ofterminal 18 a, to determine whether or not the extracted informationmatches the information from any of those memory locations Y1-Yn.

If the extracted information does not match the information stored inany of those memory locations Y1-Yn (“N” in step 18 sets a flag toenable generation of a standard audible tone indicating the receipt ofthe incoming call, in a conventional manner. For example, the controller18 may cause the audible tone to be generated by programming the D/Aconverter 17 a to cause the D/A converter 17 a to output a signal whichcauses the speaker 17 b to generate the audible tone. The generation ofthe audible tone is analogous to the ringing of a conventional telephonewhen an incoming call is being received. Thereafter, control passes tostep 246, where it is assumed that, at some time later, a user of theterminal 18 a answers the incoming call by depressing one or morepredetermined keys of the keypad 22 of the terminal 18 a, or theincoming call signal is terminated by the calling party P2 in a knownmanner.

If the information extracted by the controller 18 from the received callsignal in step 238 does match the information stored in one of thememory locations Y1-Yn from data table T1 of terminal 18 a (“Y” in step238), such as, for example, memory location Y1, then the controller 1correlates that memory location Y1 to the corresponding memory locationX1 from column X of table T1, and copies the acoustic information fromthat memory location X1 (step 241).

Thereafter, the controller 18 provides the copy of the acousticinformation to the D/A converter 17 a, which then responds by outputtinga corresponding analog signal to the speaker 17, which, in turn,generates a corresponding audible signal indicating the receipt of theincoming call (step 242). In this manner, the acoustic information fromthe memory location X1 of the terminal 18 a is used by the terminal 18 ato generate a customized audio signal for notifying party P1 of thereceipt of the call from terminal 18 b.

Preferably, in step 242 the controller 18 provides a copy of theacoustic information to the D/A converter 17 a at predetermined timeintervals (e.g., every two seconds or so), determined by the timer 18-a,until controller 18 of terminal 18 a recognizes in a known manner eitherthat the call has been answered at the terminal 18 a (by, e.g., partyP1) or the call has been terminated from terminal 18 b (by, e.g., partyP2). In this manner, the audible signal is generated by the terminal 18a at the predetermined time intervals. In other embodiments, theacoustic information may be output from the controller 18 continuouslyor a predetermined, limited number (e.g., one or more) times, forpredetermined, limited number (e.g., one or more) times, for causing theaudible signal to be generated accordingly, until the call is answeredor terminated in step 246. In accordance with one embodiment of theinvention, the controller 18 also deletes the acoustic information fromthe memory location X1 which was correlated to previously in step 241,in response to recognizing, in a known manner, that the call has beenanswered or terminated in step 246.

Referring again to step 236, a case in which the controller 18 ofterminal 18 a determines that a predetermined information field of thereceived call signal does include acoustic information in step 236 (“Y”in step 236) will now be described. If the controller 18 determines instep 236 that the received call signal does include acoustic informationin the predetermined information field thereof (“Y” in step 236), thencontrol passes to step 248 where the controller 18 extracts informationidentifying the calling terminal 18 b (e.g., the terminal 18 b'stelephone number) from another predetermined information field includedin the received signal, and compares that extracted information to theinformation stored in the individual memory locations Z1-Zn from datatable T2 of memory 24, to determine whether from any of those memorylocations Z1-Zn (i.e., to determine whether or not the terminal 18 a hasbeen pre-authorized to output an audible signal based on the acousticinformation included in the call signal received from calling terminal18 b) (step 250).

If the extracted information does not match the information stored inany of the memory locations Z1-Zn (“N” in step 250), then control passesto step 240 where the controller 18 sets a flag to cause a conventionalalerting tone to be generated in the above-described manner, and themethod then continues as described above.

If the acoustic information extracted by the controller 18 from thereceived call signal in step 248 does match the information stored inany one of the memory locations Z1-Zn from data table T2 (“Y” in step250), then the controller 18 stores the extracted information in thememory 24 of the terminal 18 a, preferably in the RAM 24 a or Flashmemory 24 c (step 252). The controller 18 also provides a copy of thatacoustic information to the D/A converter 17 a to cause the D/Aconverter 17 a to output a corresponding analog signal to the speaker17, which, in turn, generates a corresponding audible signal indicatingthe receipt of the incoming call (step 254). In this manner, theacoustic information originally included in the call signal transmittedfrom the calling terminal 18 b in earlier step 220 or 230, is employedat the receiving terminal 18 a to generate a corresponding audiblesignal indicating the receipt of the call signal from calling terminal18 b.

Preferably, step 254 is performed so that the audible signal isgenerated by the terminal 18 a at predetermined time intervals (e.g.,every two seconds or so) (i.e., the controller 18 outputs the acousticinformation to D/A converter 17 a at predetermined time intervals), asdetermined by the clock 18-a, until the controller 18 recognizes in aknown manner either that the call has been answered by the party P1 orterminated (by, e.g., party P2) (step 246). In other embodiments, theaudible signal may be generated either continuously or a predetermined,limited number (e.g., one or more) times, in the above-described manner,until the call is either answered or terminated in step 246. Inaccordance with one embodiment of the invention, the controller 18 alsodeletes the acoustic information from the memory 24 in response torecognizing that the call signal is answered or terminated in step 246.Thereafter, control passes to step 256 where the method is terminated.

It should be noted that although the invention is described above (e.g.,steps 238 and 241) in the context of the terminal 18 a selectingpre-stored acoustic information based on communication identifierinformation (e.g., telephone number) included in a received call signal,in other embodiments of the invention, the selection of pre-storedacoustic information may be performed based on other predeterminedcriteria. For example, in accordance with another embodiment of theinvention, the selection may be based on the time and/or day at whichthe call signal is received by the terminal 18 a. In that embodiment,the information stored in the individual memory locations Y1-Yn mayspecify dates, time periods within a day, etc., depending on applicableoperating criteria. When a call signal is received by the terminal 18 ain step 232 of FIG. 4 b, the controller 18 of that terminal 18 aresponds to receiving a predetermined information field (e.g., abeginning field) of that signal by referring to the clock 18-a todetermine the time and/or date at which the call signal is received.Thereafter, and assuming that control passes through step 236 to step238 in the above-described manner, then step 238 is performed bycomparing the determined time and/or date to the information from thememory locations Y1-Yn of table T1 in the terminal 18 a, to determinewhether the determined time and/or date match or fall within a rangedefined by that stored information. For example, assuming that thecontroller 18 determines that the call signal has been received at 8:30A.M., and/or on a particular date, and the information stored in memorylocation Y1 of table T1 in terminal 18 a specifies a time period rangingfrom 8:00 A.M. to 9:00 A.M. and/or the same particular date, then theperformance of step 238 results in the controller is recognizing thatthe determined time/date corresponds with the time period/date specifiedby the information from memory location Y1, and control then passes tostep 241 where the controller 18 correlates that memory location Y1 tothe corresponding memory location X1 from column X, and copies theacoustic information from that memory location X1 in the above-describedmanner (step 241). Control then passes to step 242 where the method thencontinues as described above.

In another embodiment, prior to the call signal being received by theterminal 18 a, the party P1 may specify which stored acousticinformation he desires to he employed for indicating the receipt of thecall signal. For example, prior to the call signal being received byterminal 18 a in step 232, the party P1 may enter command informationinto the memory 18 a (through keypad 22 and controller 18) of theterminal 18 a, specifying that the acoustic information stored in memorylocation X1 be employed for indicating the receipt of the call.Thereafter, assuming control passes through steps 234 and 236 to step238 in the above-described manner, then the controller 18 performs step238 by recognizing the command information stored in the memory 24 bythe party P1, and by then passing control directly to step 241 (withoutperforming the above-described decision in step 238), where thecontroller 18 then correlates that command information to the memorylocation X1, copies the acoustic information from that memory locationX1 in the above-described manner (step 241), and performs step 242 asdescribed above.

In accordance with a further embodiment of the invention, the selectionof stored acoustic information can be made in a random manner. Forexample, in that embodiment the controller 18 of terminal 18 a includesa random or pseudo-random number generator 18-b, and the controller 18performs step 238 (without performing the above-described decision instep 238) by initializing the generator 18-b to cause it to randomly orpseudo-randomly generate a random or pseudo-random number. Thereafter,the controller 18 performs step 241 by correlating the generated numberto a corresponding memory location X1-Xn, such as memory location X1,from the table T1 in terminal 18 a, copying the acoustic informationfrom that memory location X1 (step 241), and by then continuing themethod at step 242 in the above-described manner. Any suitable type ofrandom or pseudo-random generator may be employed as the generator 10-bin this embodiment, such as, by example, a binary shift PN generator.

It should be noted that although the invention has been described in thecontext of the memory locations Y1-Yn storing identifier informationcorresponding to only a single user communication device, more than asingle identifier also may be stored in each memory location Y1-Yn, inassociation with each respective memory location X1-Xn, or some otherdesired configuration also may be provided for storing more than oneuser communication device identifier in association with acousticinformation from a particular memory location X1-Xn. For example,identifier information identifying a plurality of user communicationterminals relating to a particular category (e.g., “friends”,“co-workers”) may be stored in a single memory location Y1-Yn dedicatedto that category, using any of the above-described storing techniques.As such, when call signals that include identifier informationidentifying any of the user communication devices belonging to thatcategory are later individually received at the device 18 a andcorrelated to the corresponding information within the memory locationY1-Yn in the table T1, in the above-described manner, a same audiblesignal is generated in each case, based on the acoustic informationstored in the corresponding memory location X1-Xn corresponding to thatcategory.

A further embodiment of this invention will now be described. Inaccordance with this embodiment of the invention, a normalizingprocedure is performed to acoustic information in the communicationdevices 18 a, 18 b, 19 a, 19 b, to enable any corresponding audiblesignals that are generated to have amplitudes that are within apredetermined range of amplitudes (and thus be normalized accordingly).This procedure compensates for differences between the amplitudes ofrecorded sound waves and desired amplitude levels (and thus standardizesthe volumes of generated sounds). Reference is now made to FIG. 5, whichillustrates a block diagram of a method in accordance with thisembodiment of the invention. Step 300 of that diagram preferably isperformed when an audible signal or acoustic information is entered intoa user communication device, such as in step 122 of FIG. 3 a, step 224of FIG. 4 a, and step 252 of FIG. 4 b. For the purposes of thisdescription only, the method of FIG. 5 will be described in the contextof being performed in response to party P2 entering the audible signal21 b′ into the communication terminal 18 b in step 224, although itshould be noted that a similar procedure also may be performed inresponse to acoustic information being entered in one or more of thesteps 122 and 252 as well, and the method may be performed in otherdevices 18 a, 19 a, 19 b besides terminal 19 b.

In step 300, in response to the audible signal 21 b′ being entered intothe microphone 21 b of terminal 18 b, and eventually being converted todigital form by the A/D converter 21 a and provided to the controller 18as acoustic information (as in step 224), the controller 18 of theterminal 21 b performs a first predefined algorithm to compute one ormore acoustic characteristics of the inputted signal, based on thedigital values of the acoustic information received from A/D converter21 a. Those characteristics preferably include amplitude informationrepresenting a maximum amplitude of the entered audible signal 21 b 1′,and a minimum amplitude of the entered signal 21 b′, and are determinedbased on individual bits or words (e.g., 16 bits) included in theacoustic information, using any suitable, known algorithm. For example,the algorithm may be performed by examining each 16 bit word received insuccession, maintaining a running tally of the minimum and maximumvalues of all the received words, and maintaining a running total of allvalues of the received words (i.e., each time a value of a next word isdetermined to be less than a current minimal value, or greater than acurrent maximum value, that new value is recorded as the new minimum ormaximum value, and is added to the running total). The minimum andmaximum values remaining after all of the words have been received areconsidered to represent the minimum and maximum amplitudes,respectively, of the entered signal 21 b′. The first predefinedalgorithm preferably is performed “on the fly”, as a predeterminednumber of bits or words are received in the controller 2 a (prior tothose bits being stored in the memory 24 as described above).

Thereafter, in step 302 the controller 18 performs a second predefinedalgorithm using both the maximum and minimum amplitude values determinedin step 300 and predetermined information (pre-stored in memory 24)representing desired maximum and minimum amplitude values, respectively,to determine a scaling factor to be used in scaling the digital valuesrepresenting the entered signal 21 b′. For example, the secondpredefined algorithm may include the following:

-   -   if omin=omax, then scaling factor 1.0,    -   else scaling factor=(dmax−dmin)/(omax−omin);        wherein omin and omax represent the determined minimum amplitude        and maximum amplitude, respectively, of the audible signal 21        b′, and dmax and dmin represent the predetermined maximum value        and predetermined minimum value, respectively.

Control then passes to step 304 where the controller 18 employs thedetermined scaling factor in a third predefined algorithm to scale thedigital values (now stored in memory 24) representing the entered signal21 b′, to cause the values to be placed within a range bounded by thepredetermined maximum and minimum values. For example, according to oneembodiment of the invention, the third predefined algorithm includesperforming, for each individual word representing the audible signal 21b′, the following algorithm (ALS) for scaling the word:w(i)=scaling factor*(w(i)−omin)+dmin  (ALG)wherein w(i) represents an individual word, and omin and dmin aredefined as described above.

As an example, assuming that the controller 18 determines in step 300that the maximum amplitude value of the entered audible signal 21 b′ is‘150’ and the minimum amplitude value of that signal is ‘0’, and thecorresponding predetermined maximum and minimum values are ‘300’ and‘0’, respectively, then the performance of step 302 results in adetermination that the digital values representing the entered signalshould be scaled by a factor of ‘2’, and step 304 is performed bymultiplying those values by that factor ‘2’. In this manner, theacoustic information representing the entered signal 21 b′ is normalizedin the memory 24. Thereafter, the method continues (in step 224) in theabove-described manner. As a result of the normalization procedure, whenthe acoustic information is later D/A-converted and outputted again asan audible signal the signal will have an amplitude which is within apredetermined range of amplitudes values (and a resulting sound volumewill be within a predetermined range of volumes).

In accordance with another embodiment, the acoustic characteristicsobtained in step 300 are stored in the memory 24 along with the inputtedacoustic information, for subsequent use in normalizing the acousticinformation when it is later retrieved for use in generating an audiblesignal. For example, in this embodiment the steps 300 and 302 areperformed in a similar manner as described above. However, after theacoustic characteristics are determined in step 300, they are stored inthe same memory location as the entered acoustic information, and aresubsequently included in the call signal later formed and transmitted(in step 230). Thereafter, assuming control passes to step 254 of FIG. 4b in the above-described manner, then the controller is of terminal 18 a(after storing the received acoustic information in the memory 24 instep 252) performs step 254 by extracting the acoustic characteristicsincluded in the received call signal (sent in earlier step 230),performing the second predefined algorithm in the above-describedmanner, using those characteristics (the maximum, and minimum amplitudevalues) and predetermined information (pre-stored in memory 24 ofterminal 18 a) representing desired maximum and minimum amplitudevalues, and by performing the third predefined algorithm in theabove-described manner, based on the scaling factor determined as aresult of the second predefined algorithm. The performance of the thirdpredefined algorithm causes the scaling of the digital values (e.g.,words) represented by the acoustic information now stored in memory 24of terminal 18 a, and causes those values to be placed within the rangebounded by the predetermined maximum and minimum values. Thereafter,step 254 is performed as described above, where the controller 18provides the normalized information to the D/A converter 17 a, whichthen responds by outputting a corresponding analog signal to the speaker17. The speaker 17 then generates a corresponding audible signalindicating the receipt of the incoming call (step 254). In this manner,the acoustic information is normalized in the receiving terminal 18 a,after being received from the terminal 18 b, and before being used togenerate the audible signal in terminal 18 a.

It should be realized that although the invention is described in thecontext of employing audible alerting signals to indicate the receipt ofincoming calls, the invention is not limited as such. Where appropriate,the teaching of this invention can also be applied to user communicationdevices that employ any suitable device (e.g., a buzzer or a vibrator)for alerting a user of an incoming call or message, using any suitabletype of alerting indicator.

Also, although not described above, it should be noted that acousticinformation which is stored in any of the devices 19 a, 19 b, 18 a, 19b, 33, and 7 may have any desired format, such as, e.g., a WAV fileformat (a CD-type audio sample format), a MPEG-3 encoded format, an ITUstandard G.711 encoded format, a G.723 encoded format, a G.729 encodedformat, an ETSI format (in the case of GSM voice encodings), and/orother suitable, proprietary formats. Where appropriate, the usercommunication devices 19 a, 19 b, 18 a, 19 b, 33, and 7 preferably alsohave any have a capability for encoding/decoding such acousticinformation using any suitable types of encoding/decoding techniques.

Moreover, this invention may be employed in conjunction with anysuitable types of communication protocols, as was previously described,and various protocol messages may be modified to carry acoustic andother information in accordance with this invention, such as forexample, an H.323 SETUP message, an H.323 OpenLogicalChannel message,and a SIP INVITE message, used in Internet telephony, a Q.2931 messageused in ATM telephony, a SETUP message used in GSM cellular telephony,and an IAM message used in ANSI ISUP.

While the invention has been particularly shown and described withrespect to preferred embodiments thereof, it will be understood by thoseskilled in the art that changes in form and details may be made thereinwithout departing from the scope and spirit of the invention.

1-10. (canceled)
 11. A method for operating a user communication device,comprising the steps of: providing a digital representation of anaudible signal, in a memory of the user communication device; enteringinformation through an interface of the user communication device,specifying that a call be placed from the user communication device to adestination communication device; and in response to the entering step,forwarding a call signal that includes the digital representation of theaudible signal, towards the destination communication device, through anexternal interface.
 12. A method as set forth in claim 11, wherein theuser communication device comprises at least one of a telephone and aradiotelephone.
 13. A method as set forth in claim 11, wherein theproviding step comprises the steps of: applying the audible signal tothe interface of the user communication device, and producing acorresponding analog signal within the device; converting the analogsignal to the digital representation; and storing the digitalrepresentation in the memory of the user communication device. 14-23.(canceled)
 24. A user communication device, comprising: a memory storinga digital representation of an audible signal; a communication interfacecoupled to an external interface; an input-user interface; and acontroller coupled to said memory, said communication interface, andsaid input-user interface, said controller being responsive to receivingfrom said input-user interface information specifying that a call beplaced to a destination communication device for retrieving the digitalrepresentation from said memory and forwarding a call signal thatincludes the retrieved digital representation through said communicationinterface towards the destination communication device.
 25. A usercommunication device as set forth in claim 24, wherein the usercommunication device comprises at least one of a telephone and aradiotelephone.
 26. A user communication device as set forth in claim24, further comprising: a further input-user interface having an input,and also having an output coupled to said controller, said furtherinput-user interface being responsive to the audible signal beingapplied to that input for outputting a corresponding analog signal insaid device; a converter interposed between said further input-userinterface and said controller, said converter for converting the analogsignal to the digital representation, and wherein said controller isresponsive to receiving the digital representation from said converterfor storing the digital representation in said memory. 27-35. (canceled)36. A program product comprising program code for executing a method foroperating a user communication device, the method comprising the stepsof: providing a digital representation of an audible signal, in a memoryof the user communication device; entering information through aninterface of the user communication device, specifying that a call beplaced from the user communication device to a destination communicationdevice; and in response to the entering step, forwarding a call signalthat includes the digital representation towards the destinationcommunication device, through an external interface.
 37. A programproduct as set forth in claim 36, wherein the providing step comprisesthe steps of: generating an analog signal in the user communicationdevice in response to the audible signal being applied to the interface,the analog signal representing the audible signal; converting the analogsignal to the digital representation of the audible signal; and storingthe digital representation in the memory of the user communicationdevice.
 38. A method for operating a communication system that comprisesa plurality of user communication devices, the method comprising thesteps of: providing a digital representation of an audible signal ineach of a plurality of memory locations of a memory of a first one ofthe plurality of user communication devices; forwarding a call signalfrom a second one of the user communication devices towards the firstuser communication device; and in response to the call signal beingreceived at the first user communication device, selecting one of theplurality of memory locations; and generating the audible signalrepresented by the digital representation provided in the memorylocation selected in the selecting step.
 39. A method as set forth inclaim 38, wherein each of the user communication devices comprises oneof a telephone, a radiotelephone, and an information appliance.
 40. Amethod as set forth in claim 38, wherein the providing step comprisesthe steps of: applying audible signals to an input of a userinput-interface of the first user communication device, and producingcorresponding analog signals in that device; in response to theinputting step, converting each individual analog signal to acorresponding one of the digital representations; and storing eachindividual digital representation in a respective one of the memorylocations of the memory of the first user communication device.
 41. Amethod as set forth in claim 38, wherein the step of selecting one ofthe plurality of memory locations is performed based on predeterminedinformation included in the received call signal.
 42. A method as setforth in claim 38, further comprising the step of determining at leastone of a date and a time at which the call signal is received at thefirst user communication device, and wherein the step of selecting oneof the plurality of memory locations is performed based on a result ofthe determining step.
 43. A method as set forth in claim 38, wherein theselecting step is performed by randomly selecting one of the pluralityof memory locations.
 44. A method as set forth in claim 38, furthercomprising a step of operating an input-user interface of the first usercommunication device to input information into that device specifyingthat one of the plurality of memory locations be selected, and whereinthe selecting step is performed by selecting the memory locationspecified by the inputted information.
 45. A method as set forth inclaim 38, wherein the generating step is performed by generating theaudible signal at predetermined time intervals.
 46. A method as setforth in claim 38, wherein the providing step includes a step ofdownloading each digital representation from the Internet, and into thememory of the first user communication device.
 47. A method as set forthin claim 38, wherein the communication system also comprises at leastone communication network having a storage device storing each digitalrepresentation, the first and second user communication devices arecommunicatively coupled to the at least one communication network, andthe providing step comprises the steps of: providing each digitalrepresentation from the storage device of the at least one communicationnetwork to the first user communication device; and storing each digitalrepresentations provided to the first user communication device in arespective one of the memory locations of the memory of the first usercommunication device.
 48. A method as set forth in claim 47, wherein theplurality of user communication devices are communicatively coupled tothe at least one communication network, and wherein the method furthercomprises the steps of: providing each digital representation in amemory of one of the user communication devices besides the first usercommunication device; communicating each digital representation from thememory of the one user communication device to the at least one network;and storing each digital representation in the storage device of the atleast one network, prior to providing each digital representation fromthe storage device to the first user communication device.
 49. A methodas set forth in claim 48, further comprising the step of communicating arequest for each digital representation from one of the first and seconduser communication devices to the at least one communication network,and wherein the step of providing each digital representation from thestorage device to the first user communication device is performed inresponse to the request being received in the at least one communicationnetwork.
 50. A method as set forth in claim 49, wherein the step ofcommunicating the request is performed a plurality of times atrespective predetermined time intervals.
 51. A method as set forth inclaim 50, wherein the storage device includes a plurality of memorylocations, each storing a respective digital representation of acorresponding audible signal, and wherein the providing step comprisesthe steps of: selecting at least one of the plurality of memorylocations of the storage device; and storing the digital representationfrom the at least one memory location selected in that selecting step tothe memory of the first user communication device.
 52. A method as setforth in claim 51, further comprising the step of communicatinginformation specifying that the at least one memory location of thestorage device be selected, from the first user communication device tothe at least one communication network, and wherein the step ofselecting the at least one memory location of the storage device isperformed in response to that information being received in the at leastone communication network.
 53. A method for operating a communicationsystem comprising a plurality of user communication devices, the methodcomprising the steps of: initiating a call at a first one of the usercommunication devices, for being placed to a second one of the usercommunication devices; inserting a digital representation of an audiblesignal into a call signal used for placing the call; forwarding the callsignal towards the second user communication device; and in response toreceiving the call signal at the second user communication device,generating the audible signal based on the digital representationincluded in the call signal.
 54. A method as set forth in claim 53,wherein each of the user communication devices comprises one of atelephone, a radiotelephone, and a user information appliance.
 55. Amethod as set forth in claim 53, further comprising the steps of:applying the audible signal to an input of a user interface of the firstuser communication device, and generating a corresponding analog signalin the first user communication device; and converting the analog signalto the digital representation, wherein the inserting step is performedby inserting that digital representation in the call signal, within theuser communication device.
 56. A method as set forth in claim 55,further comprising the steps of: determining at least one acousticcharacteristic of the audible signal, based on the digitalrepresentation; comparing the at least one acoustic characteristicdetermined in the determining step to at least one predeterminedacoustic characteristic; and scaling the digital representation based ona result of the comparing step, to normalize the at least one acousticcharacteristic of the audible signal.
 57. A method as set forth in claim53, wherein the call signal includes predetermined information, andfurther comprising the step of determining whether the predeterminedinformation included in the call signal corresponds to informationstored in a memory of the second user communication device, in responseto the call signal being received at the second user communicationdevice, and wherein the generating step is performed in response todetermining that the predetermined information does correspond to theinformation stored in the memory of the second user communicationdevice.
 58. A method as set forth in claim 53, wherein the communicationsystem also comprises at least one communication network having astorage device storing the digital representation of the audible signal,the first and second user communication devices are communicativelycoupled to the at least one communication network, and the methodfurther comprises the steps of: prior to the inserting step,transmitting the call signal from the first user communication device,through at least a portion of the at least one communication network;and in response to the call signal being received in the at least onecommunication network, retrieving the digital representation from thestorage device, wherein the inserting step is performed by inserting thedigital representation retrieved from the storage device in the callsignal.
 59. A method as set forth in claim 58, wherein the at least onecommunication network includes at least a portion of the Internet.60-67. (canceled)
 68. A communication system, comprising: a first usercommunication device comprising a first communication interface, amemory, an input user interface, and a controller coupled to the firstcommunication interface, the memory, and the input user interface, thememory storing a digital version of an audible signal, the controllerbeing responsive to receiving from the input user interface informationspecifying that a call be placed from the first user communicationdevice for forwarding a call signal that includes the digitalrepresentation from the memory through an external interface coupled tothe first communication interface; and a second user communicationdevice comprising a second communication interface coupled to theexternal interface, and an audible signal generator portion coupled tothe second communication interface, wherein the audible signal generatorportion is responsive to receiving the call signal from the secondcommunication interface for generating the audible signal based on thedigital representation included in the call signal.
 69. A communicationsystem as set forth in claim 68, wherein each of the first and seconduser communication devices comprises one of a telephone, aradiotelephone, and a user information appliance.
 70. A communicationsystem as set forth in claim 68, wherein the call signal includespredetermined information, the second user communication device alsocomprises a memory, and the audible signal generator portion isresponsive to receiving the call signal for determining whether thepredetermined information included in the call signal corresponds toinformation stored in the memory of the second user communicationdevice, and generates the audible signal in response to determining thatthe predetermined information does correspond to the information storedin the memory of the second user communication device.
 71. Acommunication system, comprising: a first user communication device,comprising a first communication interface, an input user interface, anda controller coupled to the first communication interface and the inputuser interface, the controller being responsive to receiving from theinput user interface information specifying that a call be placed fromthe first user communication device, for forwarding a call signalthrough the first communication interface; at least one communicationnetwork, having a second communication interface coupled to the firstcommunication interface of said first user communication device, andalso having a third communication interface, said at least onecommunication network comprising a message station and a storage devicecoupled to the message station, wherein the storage device stores adigital representation of at least one audible signal, and the messagestation is responsive to receiving the call signal for (a) retrievingthe digital representation from the storage device, (b) inserting theretrieved digital representation in the call signal, and (c) forwardingthe call signal through the third communication interface; and a seconduser communication device comprising a fourth communication interfacecoupled to the third communication interface of the at least onecommunication network, and also comprising an audible signal generatorportion coupled to the fourth communication interface, wherein theaudible signal generator portion is response to receiving the callsignal for generating the audible signal based on the digitalrepresentation included in the call signal.
 72. A communication systemas set forth in claim 71, wherein the at least one communication networkincludes at least a portion of the Internet. 73-83. (canceled)
 84. Acommunication system, comprising: a first user communication devicecomprising first communication interface means coupled to an externalinterface, and control means operable for forwarding a call signalthrough the first communication interface means; and a second usercommunication device comprising storage means, second communicationinterface means coupled to the external interface, and alerting signalgenerator means coupled to the storage means and the secondcommunication interface means, wherein the storage means includes aplurality of memory locations, each of which store a digitalrepresentation of a corresponding user-perceptible signal, and thealerting signal generator means is responsive to the call signal beingreceived through the second communication interface means for selectingone of the memory locations and for generating the user-perceptiblealerting signal represented by the digital representation stored in theselected one of the memory locations.
 85. A user communication device,comprising: storage means; input means for inputting (a) identifiersidentifying respective ones of a plurality of calling sources from whichcall signals may be received, and (b) signals representing respectiveones of a plurality of user-perceptible alerting signals that are to beindividually generated in response to calls being received fromrespective ones of the calling sources; and control means coupled tosaid storage means and said input means, said controller beingresponsive to receiving from said input means at least one of theidentifiers and at least one corresponding signal for storing the atleast one signal in association with the at least one identifier in saidstorage means. 86-88. (canceled)